Fortune Favours the Dead

Author/Guide: Stephen Spotswood

Why a Booktrail?

1945: A locked room mystery in the city that never sleeps.

ISBN: 978-1472274779
Genre: Childrens, Historical

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What you need to know before your trail

Lillian Pentecost is the most successful private detective in the city, but her health is failing. She hires an assistant to help with the investigative legwork. Willowjean Parker is a circus runaway. Quick-witted and street-smart, she’s a jack-of-all-trades with a unique skill-set. She can pick locks blindfolded, wrestle men twice her size, and throw knives with deadly precision – all of which come in handy working for Ms P.

When wealthy young widow Abigail Collins is murdered and the police are making no progress, Pentecost and Parker are hired by the family to track down the culprit. On Halloween night, there was a costume party at the Collins’ mansion, where a fortune teller performed a séance which greatly disturbed Abigail. Several hours later her body was discovered bludgeoned to death in her late husband’s office. Problem is, the door to the office was locked from the inside. There was no-one else in the room, and the murder weapon was beside the victim; the fortune teller’s crystal ball.

It looks like an impossible crime, but Pentecost and Parker know there is no such thing…

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Travel Guide

Discover the detective agency vibes of 1940s New York

Despite the time and setting, there is relatively little mention of the sights and sounds of that era or or the city itself. The city is a backdrop and streets and areas are mentioned but not evoked in any great detail. There is no real sense that 1940s New York is the city that never sleeps today. There are a few mentions of districts such as Brooklyn and Greenwich Village but the setting here is the detective agency itself and the women who break barriers to set it up and work on cases.

Working in such a male dominated profession in 1940s Nwe York is the world we learn about. The interesting story here is the relationship and lifestyle of the two female leads and how a gay woman at that time faced more obstacles and prejudices than most.